


Moral Dues

by Apex_Primus



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Cross-Posted on Tumblr, ml salt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-17
Updated: 2019-04-17
Packaged: 2020-01-15 09:08:43
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18495802
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Apex_Primus/pseuds/Apex_Primus
Summary: After almost a year, Marinette has worked up the confidence to confess to Adrien. Yet, in all the friendship they've forged, in all the fun they've had, he denies her that happy ending she's longed for. And it's all because of her "bullying".





	1. Moral Dues: Part I

**Author's Note:**

> Cross-posted this from Tumblr by request from an anon.  
> Maximum angst, my dudes (used in gender-neutral tone)

“I like you, Adrien!” Marinette squeezed her eyes shut. “I-I like you! Like, a lot!”

A second passed. Then, another.

Marinette peeked open one eye and found her crush staring at her. He looked stunned. Shocked. Confounded. His eyes were far away, as if he were staring a thousand-yards ahead.

They stood in an empty classroom. The rest of the class had already left for the day. She had only stayed to gather the parts of a project she’d presented. Adrien had stayed to help.

Suddenly, he blinked and refocused on her. “M-Marinette… I….” He closed his mouth and swallowed. “I… I don’t know what to say-”

“You don’t need to say anything!” She bit her tongue and glimpsed Adrien stepping back. “I-I mean, you say don’t any right thing-” She closed her mouth and turned redder than her supersuit.

Adrien’s eyes were wide and he looked paler. Sweat dripped down his brow and the sunshine glow that usually wreathed his head had dimmed.

He looked afraid.

Marinette took a deep breath and fought down her nerves with tooth and nail.

“I… You don’t… J-Just have dinner with me.” She tightened her hands into fists. “Or watch a movie. Or… Or just hang out with me… I… I just want a chance.”

He stared at her, then looked away.

Her heart cracked. Her breath hitched. A whisper in the back of her head told her to run now so she couldn’t face the possibility of a rejection.

“I… I’m really sorry, Marinette.”

Her eyes widened and she felt her heart plummet.

“You’re really nice and sweet, but…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “I… I just don’t feel the same way.”

Heart heart struck the pit of her stomach, shattering like glass. Her ears were ringing as her pounding heart slowed. The adrenaline left her blood. The courage left her chest. She felt hollow. Empty.

She bowed her head. “Oh….”

“It’s not because you’re not pretty!” She felt a hand on her shoulder and winced. It stayed. “You’re really… cute, and I’m not blind to that… But….”

She felt herself tremble and willed herself to stop. She failed, though, but did her best to suppress the heartache that was taking over her body.

“But?” She asked, voice on the verge of cracking.

“I… I don’t like the way you’ve been treating Lila.”

She stilled. The heartache that invaded every part of her being and made it all hurt vanished. Suddenly, revulsion took its place. Hate and anger and fury unprecedented, all those dark emotions she warned herself from feeling surfaced.

Looking up, she met Adrien’s eyes and questioned in a quiet voice, “What?”

Rage swam beneath the surface of her stunned mask. He didn’t seem to notice as he looked away awkwardly.

“I thought we agreed that outing her would do more harm than good.”

She grit her teeth. He was wrong. And right.

Earlier in the week, Lila had boasted about her time in Germany, helping out at her family’s bakery. It’d started harmless at first. However, as the lies piled up—like they usually did—she started claiming they were the better than any bakery in Germany. In Europe. In the world.

They were better than her parents’ bakery.

She remembered the taunt. She remembered the stares and the whispering. She remembered Lila backtracking, excusing herself for the “unnecessarily rude” remark.

She’d tried Dupain-Cheng macarons before. They were a little stale.

She’d had some Dupain-Cheng croissants, but they’d been hard.

She’d ordered some dumplings, but they’d ripped open the moment she picked them up.

Lila probably had more “constructive criticism” lined up, but she’d snapped back before she could go farther. In the blink of an eye, she was demanding proof. Receipts. Dates. Titles of the food. Anything that could disprove her claims.

Adrien had tried playing mediator, but he’d just played right into Lila’s ploy.

Marinette leveled a glare at the ground. “She was crossing a line.”

“And it’s okay for you to cross one too?”

A part of her knew he was right. The rest of her wanted to say yes.

She closed her eyes and breathed in. “She was making fun of my family’s patisserie.”

“That doesn’t make it okay.”

“But doing nothing does?”

Her voice carried throughout the empty classroom. She was breathing heavily. A fire was burning in the pit of her stomach where the shattered pieces if her heart lay.

Adrien took a step forward, hand still on her shoulder. “Marinette, if we expose her we could get her akumatized. If we just… let her keep going, she’ll inevitably get caught.”

Maybe. She might. But, she hadn’t yet.

It’d been over two months since she’d returned to Collège Françoise Dupont, and everyone was still wrapped around her finger.

“What if you’re wrong?” She looked up at him, meeting his gaze. “What if she doesn’t get caught? What if she keeps lying and no one finds out?”

Her voice was trembling with the strain of suppressing her frustration. If Adrien noticed, he seemed to interpret it as fear, because suddenly, he was touching her hand and holding it in his own.

Her heart might have fluttered if it wasn’t turning to ash.

“Marinette, don’t worry,” he said with a smile that shined like the sun. “We’re in this together, remember? Even if she doesn’t get caught, her lies won’t hurt anyone.”

Her breath hitched. She stared a thousand-yards ahead.

Lila wasn’t hurting anyone.

She wasn’t hurting Adrien.

She wasn’t hurting Alya.

She wasn’t hurting Nino.

Or Kim.

Or Max.

Or Alix, Rose, Juleka, Ivan, Mylène, Nathaniel, Sabrina, or even Chloé.

She wasn’t hurting anyone.

So why did Marinette feel like someone had punched her in the gut?

“I need to go.”

She picked his hand off of her shoulder and stepped past him. He was still processing her reaction by the time she reached the door. Before she could walk out of it, though, he was running after her.

“W-Wait!” He grabbed her wrist and she struggled to escape. “Marinette, stop! What are you doing?”

“Leaving!” she snapped. “Now let go!”

“No!” He tightened his grip. “I need you to promise me that you won’t go after Lila anymore first.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“Are you serious?” She shook her head before jerking her arm. “Let go, Adrien!”

“Just promise me-”

“No!” She pushed against him and ripped her arm away. “Lila has done nothing but lie since she got here! She doesn’t care about anyone but herself, regardless of the consequences. One of these days, she’s going to hurt our friends, and you're okay with that!”

Adrien stared at her before he took on a disbelieving face too. “Of course, I'm not okay with that!” He threw an arm out. “But if we go after her she’ll become more dangerous! If we out her, she could become akumatized! Are you okay with  _that_?”

She opened her mouth, but closed it. Yet, she couldn’t stay quiet. Not anymore.

“Yes.” She never broke eye contact with him. “I am.” She took a deep breath. “Maybe then people will see her for who she is.”

Adrien stared at her, mouth agape. He closed it a second later and bore a heartbroken face briefly. Then, he closed his eyes and breathed in. “I can’t believe you, Marinette.”

She watched him with opened eyes, rounded like dinner plates.

He crossed his arms and raised his chin, shooting her a condescending look down past his nose. “You’re just another bully.”

Her hand flew before she could stop herself.

The next thing she knew, Adrien was a few steps back, holding his cheek. She stood over him, hand up and palm stinging.

He stared at her with wide, tear-brimming eyes. She stared back with the same expression, save for the lurking wrath that blazed around her wet eyes.

Silence reigned between them for an eternity before she turned and walked away.


	2. Moral Dues: Part II

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sometimes, you have to let it go. Sometimes, you have to let it out.

Marinette climbed into her room and slammed the hatch behind her. She stood trembling for a moment, taking deep breaths.

In, then out.

In and out.

In, out.

In.

Out.

She ripped the first picture of Adrien she saw off her wall.

In. Out.

She tore his schedule off the side of her bed, throwing it at the floor.

In. Out.

She shredded every photo, every magazine cutout, and every article.

In. Out.

The last thing she did was sit down at her desk, drained until she moved her computer mouse and spied Adrien’s faces on the monitor. She stared at it briefly before deleting every image of and related to him.

“Marinette.“

She bowed her head and let the tears start falling. Tikki flew up next to her face, touching her cheek gently. Comfortingly.

It was the only warmth she felt. The fire that’d burned in her was gone, leaving her cold and hollow.

“It hurts, Tikki.” She sniffled and wiped her face. “How could he say that?“

Her chest felt like it was caving in on itself. Her heart was nothing more than jagged shards. Her vision was blurred with tears, but every time she closed her eyes all she could see was Adrien’s condescending, mightier-than-thou face.

It left an ugly feeling inside of her. Something gross and slimy and revolting.

“Marinette!”

Her eyes snapped open just as the purple Butterfly phased through her window. She shot up and backed away. Her eyes shot around for something to throw or swing at it.

“You need to calm down!” Tikki clung to her ear. “Take deep breaths and think happy thoughts!”

She closed her eyes and obeyed, but in the dark she could only see green eyes scrutinizing her.

“I can’t!” She cried, tears cascading down her cheeks. “I’m sorry, Tikki, I can’t!”

“You have too!”

“I can’t stop thinking about him! About what happened!”

The akuma was almost upon her, so she circled around it. It fluttered back towards her. She climbed up to her bed, then through the hatch above it onto the roof.

Tikki zipped out, a blur of red. She appeared over her shoulder again, nubs pressed together as if she were praying. “Marinette, remember the good times! The best times! With your family! Friends! Everyone you love!”

She tried. She honestly did.

She tried remembering her parents. The years of gentle care and loving support they gave her.

She tried remembering her Nonna. All the great gifts and adoration she showered upon her every time she visited.

She tried remembering her friends. All those years of kinship and camaraderie, the fun and games they’d had.

Yet, when she thought of love, she felt the frigid hand of truth wrench her heart.

“But I love Adrien!”

Every memory of love was radiant with his sunshine. In every moment they shared, he was radiant with joy and jubilance.

She remembered her birthday, when he’d gifted her his homemade lucky charm.

She remembered stealing him away to the movie theater so he could see his mother on the silver screen.

She remembered their dance at Chloé’s party, his gentle movements in every step they took.

She remembered his giddiness at having her sign his copy of Jagged Stone’s album. His flustered face when they’d touched hands on the same controller. His eagerness to help her speak with her uncle. His glowing face when they nearly kissed in Nino’s film.

She remembered his soft, earnest face beneath the threshold of Collège Françoise Dupont as he handed her his umbrella.

And she remembered his narrowed eyes, judging her for her every right to stand up in the face of evil….

Her breathing slowed. Her heart lost its fear.

Adrien’s sunshine dimmed. The glowing corona that had wreathed his figure faded away. That god-like idol she’d placed atop a pedestal no longer looked up into the heavens with an angelic smile, but looked down upon her with a frown.

“I… love Adrien….”

She opened her eyes. The akuma floated before her. She stared at it, waiting for the inevitable.

It never came.

The akuma fluttered away, off into the night.

Marinette sat there and breathed in, then out. In, then out. In, then out.

Then, she got up and went back inside.

* * *

School the next morning came too quickly.

She didn’t have the energy or the motivation to get out of bed. She just wanted to lay in the warmth of her own making and never leave.

Her maman, of course, wouldn’t let her have that modicum of comfort.

Threatened with no video games for a week, she was forced to climb out of bed and get ready for the day.

She trudged through her daily routine. It took her forever to make her signature ponytails. She spaced out during breakfast and came back to find her cereal soggy. It was nearly time for class when she left her house.

It was just past the front doors that she heard the voice she most despised.

“Well. Well. Well.”

She gripped the straps of her backpack tightly. Lila Rossi stepped around her. She had her hands on her hips and a smirk on her face.

“What did I tell you?” She raised her chin and chuckled. “First, your friends. Then, Adrien.”

She giggled. Marinette growled.

“How do you-”

“Know about that?” Lila snickered. “It’s funny what you hear when you go back to find your notebook.” She glanced at her phone and hummed. “Whoops, looks like I’m late for class.”

Then, she dashed to the stairs and up towards the classroom. Marinette stood there, confounded at her sprint, but then suspicious of her motives. She sped-walked after her, making her way to Mlle. Bustier’s class.

Through the glass windows, she saw Lila weeping into Mlle. Bustier’s shirt and Alya rubbing circles into her back. The sight was surreal until it became infuriating, but that fire died quickly. She could already see the class gossiping, their curious faces turning into shock, then into anger. If she went in there, it’d be a repeat of the first time she’d tried outing Lila.

So, without a word, she turned on her heels and walked back outside.

* * *

“Miraculous Ladybug!”

Ladybug threw her Lucky Charm, a golf club of all things, into the air. It flared with magic and burst into swarms of ladybugs that swept across Paris. In an instant, the damage dealt in Hawkmoth’s latest akuma attack was restored.

She grinned, then looked over at the akumatized victim, a teenage boy around her age. He looked confused and disturbed, but not afraid.

Stepping over, she knelt beside him and put a hand on his shoulder. “Hey, are you alright?”

“Wha- Ladybug!“ He flushed red. “I-I… I, uh… W-Was I akumatized?“

She pursed her lips and nodded. His face fell and he looked down. She gave a sympathetic look and squeezed his shoulder.

“Don’t feel ashamed. Hawkmoth can get the better of any of us.”

“Speak for yourself, bugaboo.”

She narrowed her eyes and groaned as Chat sashayed over. He had a grin on his face and his hands on his hips.

She looked at him and growled, “Chat, not the time.”

He glanced from her to the victim and mouthed an ‘o’. He backed up, but a bleep from his ring signaled another lost paw. They both looked at his miraculous before nodding at each other.

“Sorry, everyone, but I gotta pounce!“ He saluted the crowd gathering around them before leaping away with his staff.

Meanwhile, she returned her focus to the teen next to her. He’d switched from kneeling to sitting on his but, one hand propping him up while the other held his phone.

From the glimpse she got at it, he was texting a friend. There were messages about thanks, gratitude, a bully, and suspension.

“Do you want to talk about it?“

He jumped and realized she was still there. “I….” He looked away. “No, it’s… it’s nothing.”

“Well, it did get you akumatized,” she reasoned. “I won’t push you, but if you want to, I’ll listen.“

He turned to stare at her, then bowed his head again. After a moment, he sighed and lolled his head back. “There’s a bully at my school. He makes fun of me and my friends all the time, but today…” Anger crossed his face like fire through a forest. “He pushed my best-friend against a locker. I told him to back off, but he didn’t and… and I… I hit him.” He paled. “He hit back, then I hit back. We were on the ground, fighting, then suddenly our teachers were pulling us apart and I got suspension-”

“For trying to protect your friend.“ She rotated her jaw and swallowed. “I understand.“

He blinked. “Really?”

She remembered Lila and the hopes of her friends she threw up high, just waiting to come crashing down.

Ladybug nodded. “Yeah.” Her earrings bleeped and she bit back a curse. Glancing at him, she stood and helped him up. “I don’t condone violence for violence. But what you did, standing up for your friend, that’s something to be proud of. No matter the circumstances.”

He jammed his hands into his pockets and grumbled, “My teachers didn’t think so.“

“What they think doesn’t matter.“ She nudged his arm and he looked up to meet her gaze. “The world could tell you to back down, but you shouldn’t. What you need to do is plant yourself like a tree and stand your ground.” Her earrings bleeped again, but she ignored them. “Just remember, all that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing.”

With that, she stepped away, leaving him awestruck. Throwing her yo-yo, she gave a salute and a quick “Bug out!” before leaving the scene.

* * *

Marinette plopped down on her chaise and sighed. Out of the corner of her eye, she spied a blur of red and pink before Tikki materialized over her.

“You did a good deed, Marinette.“

She hummed. “I just… told him what I thought was right.”

“You told him what he needed to hear,“ she said. “He’ll remember that. And you will too.“

She barely registered Tikki setting down next to her. Her mind raced with thoughts on her own words.

It’d all been a spur of the moment speech. She’d just spilled out her bleeding heart, letting the teen know that she understood every last feeling of helplessness and the fear of the duty to stand up to bullies.

Slowly, but surely, a smile crossed her face.

Then, her phone vibrated. She raised an eyebrow and looked over the side of her chaise at her purse on the ground. Reaching down, she sifted through its contents before pulling her phone out.

“Nine missed calls from Alya,” she mumbled.

There were also two missed calls from Adrien and one from Nino. Then, there was also a whole collection of texts from her classmates.

“Where are you?“ she read. “We need to talk. What did you say to Lila?” She narrowed her eyes and skimmed through Alya’s messages.

_I know you aren’t ignoring me._

_Whatever you said really hurt Lila._

_You aren’t skipping school are you?_

_Marinette, this is going too far._

_I swear to God, I’m going to call your parents and report you missing._

“And I’m all caught up,“ she huffed.

The moment she’d gotten home, her parents had sat her down and demanded to know where she’d been. After explaining everything and claiming her phone had died, she got sent upstairs with a mild scolding.

While they understood her situation with Lila, they still didn’t like her skipping class. She could understand that.

“Marinette!“

She glanced at Tikki, who zipped into her purse.

“Tikki? What-“

She was cut off by the pitter-patter of footsteps on her roof. Her heart stopped and she jumped up. Glancing around, she spied a pair of scissors she’d used several nights before.

Quickly, she ran to it as the footsteps neared the hatch over her bed. Grabbing her scissors, she held it defensively as her heart pounded. A few seconds later, there was a rapping from the hatch.

“Hello? Princess, are you home?“

She blinked. “Chat?”

Why was her partner here?

She walked over and climbed up to her bed. Unlocking the hatch, she lifted it to find her leather-clad partner sitting outside. He looked nervous, twiddling his thumbs and averting his gaze every so often.

“H-Hey, Princess.“ He ran a hand through his hair. “How’s it, uh… How’s it going?“

She raised an eyebrow. “Good….” She glanced around. “Why are you here?”

He shrugged and rubbed the back of his neck. “I heard you were having some trouble at school. Thought I might drop by and see how you fur.”

He grinned. She frowned. Then, she climbed back down and closed the hatch.

“Marinette, wait!”

“No.” She locked the hatch. “Go home. Your pun was terrible.”

“I’m sorry!“

“I don’t care!“

“Please!“

She groaned and face-palmed. “Ugh, fine.”

A minute later, she was sitting at her desk and he was sitting on the floor. She glanced at him, then at her chaise.

“You don’t have to sit on the floor, you know?“

He stared at her. She stared at him.

Chat, why are you really here?“

He blinked. “Oh, uh, it’s like what I said before. 

She shifted uncomfortably. Someone had told Chat about everything that’d happened? How much? Did he know about today?

“I heard you confronted Lila today.“

Yeah, he knew about today.

She shook her head. “I didn’t. She came up to me and taunted me. She…“ She narrowed her eyes into empty space. “I… got into an argument yesterday. She overheard it.“

Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Chat look away. Focusing back on him, she found him searching for his words.

“S-So, what did she do? Just make fun of you?”

She huffed. “That and I’m pretty sure she framed me for ‘confronting her’, if what you thought I did is anything to go by.” She propped her arm up on her desk and rested her cheek in her palm. “Lila has my entire class wrapped around her finger, but every time I try to open their eyes they gang up on me or Adrien tells me to back down.”

“Isn’t that a good thing?“

She stilled. Chat sucked in a breath. She looked over at him, eyes scrutinizing his anxious face.

“Why would that be a good thing?“

He shrugged. “Because… Well, because she could’ve been akumatized if you did….” He trailed off.

She stared at him, hard, then rolled her eyes. “Ugh, you sound just like Adrien.”

“Well, it’s true isn’t it?“

“It’s also been true the last two times. Three if she was here during Hero’s Day like I think she was.“

“Are you saying you want to akumatize her?”

She shot him an incredulous look. “No! No, that’s not- I don’t- Ugh, I don’t want her to get akumatized, but….” She threw out a hand and let it fall. A moment later, she stood up and strode to her ‘work area’. Picking a needle off a pin cushion, she inspected its point. “If I see someone bullying others, I can’t walk away.”

“But walking towards them is your answer?“

“If it means I’m putting myself between them and their victim, yes.“

“But you’re not doing that.“ Suddenly, he was behind her, a hand on her shoulder.

She briefly flashed back to her and Adrien’s fight yesterday.

“If you keep attacking her, she’ll-“

“Me attacking her?“ She slapped his arm away. “She attacks me! She threatened me! Almost got me akumatized! I-….“ She pursed her lips. “Chat, I think you need to leave.”

“What? But-“

“Go. Now.“

The leather-clad superhero backed away before bowing his head, tail dragging behind him as he climbed up and out onto her roof. A few seconds later, she heard him pounce away, his shadow visible through the window.

She watched the night sky for time before she sat back at her desk and sighed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Follow me on Tumblr: apex-primus

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on Tumblr: apex-primus  
> Check out all the other endings by other authors on Tumblr: https://apex-primus.tumblr.com/post/184242352676/rejection-endings-so-far

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Rejection - Felix Culpa](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18723559) by [ChaoticNeutral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral)
  * [Rejection - Pettybug](https://archiveofourown.org/works/18741040) by [ChaoticNeutral](https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChaoticNeutral/pseuds/ChaoticNeutral)




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